Q: Quick Summary of FAQ.

A: Documentation and details of the following (and much more) are below in the FAQ:

Radioactive Iodine (Radioiodine) is a major radioisotope constituent of both
nuclear power plant accidents and nuclear bomb explosions and can travel hundreds of
miles on the winds.

Even very small amounts of inhaled or ingested radioiodine can do grave damage as
it will always concentrate, and be retained, in the small space of the thyroid gland.
Eventually giving such a large radiation dose to thyroid cells there that abnormalities are
likely to result, such as loss of thyroid function, nodules in the thyroid, or thyroid cancer.
(Each year 12,000 Americans discover they have thyroid cancer, though from various assorted
causes, and about 1000 die from it.)

Chernobyl has shown, and continues to reveal, that
the greatest danger from radioiodine is to the tiny thyroid glands of children.
Researchers have found that in certain parts of Belarus, for example, 36.4 per cent of children,
who were under the age of four at the time of the accident, can expect to develop thyroid
cancer. Also, "This increase in incidence has been documented up to 500 km from the accident site."

Health experts now estimate that
the greatest health concerns affecting the largest number of people from a nuclear accident,
or nuclear bomb explosion(s) anywhere in the world, will likely be from the release of
radioiodine that is then carried downwind for hundreds of miles. While there will also be many
other dangerous radioisotopes released along with radioiodine, if they are inhaled or ingested they are
normally dispersed throughout a body and pose less of a risk than if they were to be concentrated
into one small specific area of the body, like radioiodine is in the thyroid gland. As a plume or
cloud of radioactive isotopes disperses with the wind its danger also diminshes, but much less
quickly so for radioiodine because whatever little there is will always be concentrated
into that small space of the thyroid gland.

The good news is that taking either Potassium Iodide (KI) or Potassium Iodate (KIO3)
before exposure will saturate (fill up) a persons thyroid gland with safe stable iodine to where there
is no room for later uptake of radioactive iodine. Once the thyroid is saturated, then any
additional iodine (radioactive or stable) that is later inhaled or ingested
is quickly eliminated via the kidneys.

The bad news is that after Three Mile Island and Chernobyl all available KI and KIO3
supplies disappeared for months, almost overnight! The KI and KIO3 market is very thin and
current limited inventory will be quickly depleted in any nuclear emergency occuring anywhere
in the world. (At www.ki4u.com we expect to be 'out of business' within 24-hours of any
nuclear emergency simply because we'll be totally sold-out with no illusions of getting
re-supplied again any time soon!)

Potassium Iodide (KI) and/or Potassium Iodate (KIO3) are now being stockpiled by most developed
countries for future nuclear emergencies, except for here in the USA. However, limited
quantites are available for individual purchase OTC in the USA.

"FDA maintains that KI is a safe and effective means by which to prevent radioiodine uptake by the thyroid gland, under certain specified conditions of use, and thereby obviate the risk of thyroid cancer in the event of a radiation emergency."

Q: How does Potassium Iodide (KI) pill provide radiation protection?

A: Going back to June 23, 1966, the New England Journal of
Medicine. Vol. 274 on Page 1442 states:

"The thyroid gland is especially vulnerable to atomic injury
since radioactive isotopes of iodine are a major component of fallout."

Cresson H. Kearny, the author of Nuclear War
Survival Skills, Original Edition Published September, 1979, by Oak Ridge National Laboratory,
a Facility of the U.S. Department of Energy (Updated and Expanded 1987 Edition) states on
page 111:

"There is no medicine that will effectively prevent nuclear radiations from damaging the human body
cells that they strike.

However, a salt of the elements potassium and iodine, taken orally even in very
small quantities 1/2 hour to 1 day before radioactive iodines are swallowed or inhaled, prevents
about 99% of the damage to the thyroid gland that otherwise would result. The thyroid gland readily
absorbs both non-radioactive and radioactive iodine, and normally it retains much of this element in
either or both forms.

When ordinary, non-radioactive iodine is made available in the blood for
absorption by the thyroid gland before any radioactive iodine is made available, the gland will absorb
and retain so much that it becomes saturated with non-radioactive iodine. When saturated, the
thyroid can absorb only about l% as much additional iodine, including radioactive forms that later
may become available in the blood: then it is said to be blocked. (Excess iodine in the blood is
rapidly eliminated by the action of the kidneys.)"

"Potassium iodide, if taken in
time, blocks the thyroid gland's uptake of radioactive iodine and thus
could help prevent thyroid cancers and other diseases that might otherwise
be caused by exposure to airborne radioactive iodine that could be
dispersed in a nuclear accident."

Federal Register. Vol. 43 Friday, December 15, 1978, states in Potassium
Iodide as a Thyroid Blocking Agent in a Radiation Emergency:

"Almost complete (greater than 90%) blocking of peak radioactive
iodine uptake by the thyroid gland can be obtained by the oral
administration of ... iodide ..."

National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements. NCRP Report
NO. 55. Protection of the Thyroid Gland in the Event of Releases of
Radioiodine. August, 1979, Page 32:

"A major protective action to be considered after a serious
accident at a nuclear power facility involving the release of radioiodine
is the use of stable iodide as a thyroid blocking agent to prevent thyroid
uptake of radioiodines."

"The effectiveness of KI as a specific blocker of thyroid radioiodine uptake is well established (Il'in LA, et al., 1972) as are the doses necessary for blocking uptake. As such, it is reasonable to conclude that KI will likewise be effective in reducing the risk of thyroid cancer in individuals or populations at risk for inhalation or ingestion of radioiodines."

"KI provides protection only for the thyroid from radioiodines. It has no impact on the uptake by the body of other radioactive materials and provides no protection against external irradiation of any kind. FDA emphasizes that the use of KI should be as an adjunct to evacuation (itself not always feasible), sheltering, and control of foodstuffs."

Potassium Iodide (and Potassium Iodate, KIO3) will provide a very high level of thyroid protection, taken
in time, for the specific radio-isotopes of iodine, which is expected by many to
cause the majority of health concerns downwind from a nuclear emergency.
(And, is the reason most all developed countries have stockpiled it.)

However, there are numerous other, and very dangerous, radioactive noble
gases and/or radioactive fallouts that can be associated
with nuclear emergencies. You are still exposed to inhale, ingest, or be
radiated externally from any number of dangerous non-radioiodine sources.

If you are ever directed to evacuate in a nuclear emergency, do so immediately,
regardless of whether you have taken Potassium Iodide (KI) or KIO3, or not.

Q: Radioactive Iodine: Bad News / Good News?

A:
The "bad news" first:

#1 - Radioactive iodine (predominantly iodine-131) is a major
radioisotope constituent in nuclear power plants.

#2 - There are 103 currently active commercial nuclear reactors and 39
operating nonpower reactors in the United States. (434 worldwide as of 1998.)
Additionlly, there are numerous other nuclear processing and storage
facilities worldwide with the potential for accidents, too. (The,
September 29, 1999, Tokaimura, Japan nuclear accident took place, not in
a nuclear reactor power plant, but in an uranium processing plant.
Radioactive iodine-131 gases were confirmed to have been released and
was the primary reason for 320,000 Japanese confined to their homes
with their windows shut. It was also why you may have seen
photos of Japanese authorities examining scores of children with geiger counters
pressed against their necks.)

#3 - Radioactive iodine (predominantly iodine-131) is also a major constituent of detonated nuclear weapons.

#4 - Radioactive iodine can not only travel hundreds of miles on the winds, but also still remain health threatening even as other radioisotopes are becoming dispersed and diluted along with it and their likelyhood of causing harm diminishes.
It is often overlooked that while there will also be many other dangerous radioisotopes released along with radioiodine, if they are inhaled or ingested they are normally dispersed throughout a body and pose less of a risk than if they were to be concentrated into one small specific area of the body, like radioiodine is in the thyroid gland. As a plume or cloud of radioactive isotopes disperses with the wind its danger also diminshes, but always much less quickly so for radioiodine because whatever little there is that's inhaled will always be concentrated into that small space of the thyroid gland.

"...was detected in Belarus, Russia,
and Ukraine. Notably, this increase,
seen in areas more than 150 miles
(300 km) from the site, continues to
this day and primarily affects children
who were 0-14 years old at the time of
the accident...the vast majority of the
thyroid cancers were diagnosed
among those living more than 50 km
(31 miles) from the site."

"This increase in incidence has been documented up to 500 km from
the accident site."

...and therefore...

"...that stockpiling (KI or KIO3) is warranted, when feasible, over
much wider areas than normally encompassed by emergency planning zones,
and that the opportunity for voluntary purchase be part of national plans."

Many are coming to see now that relying on the current U.S. policy of public safety
contingency plans focused on only protecting the populations inside a small
"Emergency Planning Zone" (EPZ) of 5 to 10 miles around U.S. nuclear
power plants is "overly optimistic", to put it very mildly.

Undoubtably, US nuclear power plants are much
better designed, operated, and safer than many others elsewhere in the world, and certainly
many magnitudes safer than the Chernobyl operation ever was. Without anyone debating here
how likely anything is to ever go wrong, it must still be accepted by all that
the logic of even having any EPZ's established is to effectively provide for
the public safety in that rarest of events if/when anything did go
wrong. If that's why we've even bothered with having any EPZ's at all, then shouldn't
they be effective ones, if/when it's ever really needed to protect the public downwind?
Reality is, the wind just won't know to stop blowing when it comes up against the
currently tiny 5-10 mile EPZ 'barriers'. (Find your
upwind nuclear power plants and daily updated plant status reports
here.)

The wind, of course, doesn't respect state boundaries either as our own Nevada atomic bomb testing
program in the 1950s and early 1960s made it possible that "...everyone living in the contiguous 48
states was exposed to low levels of 131Iodine (radioiodine) for several
months following each nuclear bomb test." (Radiation Exposure and
Thyroid Cancer - Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center) Even more importantly; "The
report also estimates that
children aged three to five years probably received doses of radiation
three to seven times higher than average during the 90 nuclear tests that
were carried out."

Remember, it's always the children who are at the highest risk of
injury from radioactive iodine and eventually developing thyroid cancer from that exposure.
Each year, more than 12,000 Americans find out they have thyroid cancer, though from various causes.
About 1000 here in the U.S. die from it yearly.

And, of course, the wind also doesn't respect international boundaries either, nor even continents and oceans,
as fallout from a single above ground Chinese nuclear test
explosion ("a few hundred kilotons") on December 28, 1966 resulted in the
fallout cloud covering most of the United States.

"It produced fallout that by January 1, 1967 resulted in the fallout cloud covering most of the United
States. This one Chinese explosion produced about 15 million curies of iodine- 131 - roughly the same
amount as the total release of iodine- 131 into the atmosphere from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant
disaster."

"Fallout from the approximately 300 kiloton Chinese test explosion shown in
Fig. 1 caused milk from cows that fed on pastures near Oak Ridge, Tennessee
and elsewhere to be contaminated with radioiodine, although not with enough
to be hazardous to health. However, this milk contamination (up to 900
picocuries of radioactive iodine per liter) and the measured dose rates
from the gamma rays emitted from fallout particles deposited in different
parts of the United States indicate that trans-Pacific fallout from even
an overseas nuclear war in which "only" two or three hundred megatons would
be exploded could result in tens of thousands of unprepared Americans
suffering thyroid injury." (Declassified Fallout Map and full
story text in Nuclear War Survival Skills at
Trans-Pacific Fallout)

Getting Back To The Future...
Commenting on the world health effects a nuclear exchange between India and Pakistan would
create, for example,
Dr. Henry Kendall of the Union of Concerned Scientists said last October (1999)
"It would be very similar to
Cherynobl. But it could be on a substantially larger scale."

Accordingly, you also have to assess the probable threat from nuclear war,
either directed at the U.S. or fallout contamination originating from
elsewhere in the world. Russia, China, North Korea, Pakistan, India, Middle East, etc.,
where any of them are exchanging nuclear blasts with any of their neighbors,
could have the prevailing west-to-east trade winds carrying the resultant radioactive fallout to our
shores, too. You'll have to decide whether that's an impossible scenario
in your families lifetime, or not. And, then prepare accordingly.

#5 - Radioactive iodine (radioiodine) persists in the environment for a month or more.

#6 - Most importantly, ingested or inhaled radioactive iodine (radioiodine)
persists in the body and concentrates in the thyroid. (Excess iodine in the
blood, either radioiodine or stable iodine, is quickly eliminated from the
body, but only after the thyroid has become saturated with one or the
other type of iodine.) Even very small amounts of radioactive iodine,
because it is retained in the small space of the thyroid, eventually
will give such a large radiation dose to thyroid cells there that
abnormalities are likely to result. These would include loss of thyroid
function, nodules in the thyroid, or thyroid cancer. The most likely to
see the worst effects, in later life, are the youngest children.
(Many of the Chernobyl thyroid cancers appearing in the former Soviet
Union among young people today were just children less than five years old
at the time of the accident. Experts now contend that as high as 40% of
the nodules are cancerous with 5 to 10 percent of the cancers fatal.)

Every year researchers are discovering more from Chernobyl as its legacy continues to reveal itself. According to the World Health Organization, that disaster will cause 50,000 new
cases of thyroid cancer among young people living in the areas most affected by the nuclear
disaster. Researchers have also found that in certain parts of Belarus, for example, 36.4 per
cent of children, who were under the age of four at the time of the accident, can expect to
develop thyroid cancer.

For all of the above reasons, health experts estimate that the greatest health concerns
affecting the largest
number of people from a nuclear accident, or nuclear bomb explosion(s) anywhere in the world,
will likely be from the release of
radioactive iodine carried downwind.

"...a salt of the elements potassium and iodine, taken orally even in very
small quantities 1/2 hour to 1 day before radioactive iodines are swallowed or inhaled, prevents
about 99% of the damage to the thyroid gland that otherwise would result."

The Chernobyl accident
demonstrated that thyroid cancer can indeed be a major result of a large reactor accident.
Moreover, although the Food and Drug Administration declared KI "safe and effective" as long ago
as 1978, the drug had never been deployed on a large scale until Chernobyl. The experience of
Polish health authorities during the accident has provided confirmation that large scale deployment of
KI is safe.

Additionally, it goes on to say:

The revised policy also reflects wide scale change in international practice following the Chernobyl
disaster, specifically 1989 World Health Organization recommendations (updated in 1995) and
1996 and 1997 International Atomic Energy Agency standards and guidance, which have led to use
of KI as a supplementary protective measure in much of Europe, as well as in Canada and Japan.

"Thus, the studies following the Chernobyl accident support the etiologic role of relatively small doses of radioiodine in the dramatic increase in thyroid cancer among exposed children. Furthermore, it appears that the increased risk occurs with a relatively short latency. Finally, the Polish experience supports the use of KI as a safe and effective means by which to protect against thyroid cancer caused by internal thyroid irradiation from inhalation of contaminated air or ingestion of contaminated food and drink when exposure cannot be prevented by evacuation, sheltering, or food and milk control."

What they learned was that children, with their thyroid glands being
the most sensitive to radioactive iodine uptake, have today grown up
to be the most frequent victims of thyroid cancers there.
The children in Russia, the Ukraine and Belarus, where potassium iodide (KI)
was not widely distributed, are now experiencing high levels of thyroid
cancer. However, in Poland,
where over 18 million doses of Potassium Iodide (KI) were administered,
and to 97 percent of the children, there has been
no similar increase in thyroid cancer. Also, key to Poland's radioiodine
protective strategy, was their aggressive interdiction of radioiodine
contaminated food stuffs and milk.

Bottom Line: For all its serious potential for widespread
damage to populations (and especially among our youngest), far downwind from the site of a
nuclear event, radioiodine
health concerns can be largely neutralized by inexpensive thyroid blocking
via prompt prophylactic use of potassium iodide (KI). This, in addition
to successful evacuation, when indicated, and vigilance that food and milk
are not also radioiodine contaminated, has proven itself the best combination
strategy.

Q: Dosage and safety regarding Potassium Iodide (KI) usage?

A: In April of 1982 the Bureau of Radiological Health and Bureau of Drugs, Food and Drug
Administration, Department of Health and Human Services released "FINAL
RECOMMENDATIONS, Potassium Iodide As A Thyroid-Blocking Agent In A Radiation
Emergency: Recommendations On Use". These lengthy recommendations are summarized in the
FDA's "mandated patient product insert". (See a complete copy below.) This insert
is packed with every bottle of non-prescription Potassium Iodide (KI) tablets sold. However, the lengthy FDA
recommendations contain many facts not mentioned in this required insert, including the following:

"Based on the FDA adverse reaction reports and an estimated 48 x 106 [48 million] 300-mg doses
of potassium iodide administered each year [in the United States], the NCRP [National Council on
Radiation Protection and Measurements] estimated an adverse reaction rate of from 1 in a million to
1 in 10 million doses."

(It should be pointed out that this extremely low adverse reaction rate is for doses over twice as
large as the 130-mg prophylactic dose.)

NOTE: The following 'old' FDA Recommendations were recently revised. See details and link to the new (November, 2001) FDA guidelines immediately below the following box.

TAKE POTASSIUM IODIDE ONLY WHEN PUBLIC HEALTH OFFICIALS TELL YOU. IN A RADIATION EMERGENCY, RADIOACTIVE IODINE COULD BE RELEASED INTO THE AIR. POTASSIUM IODIDE (A FORM OF IODINE) CAN HELP PROTECT YOU.

IF YOU ARE TOLD TO TAKE THIS MEDICINE, TAKE IT ONE TIME EVERY 24 HOURS. DO NOT TAKE IT MORE OFTEN. MORE WILL NOT HELP YOU AND MAY INCREASE THE RISK OF SIDE EFFECTS. DO NOT TAKE THIS DRUG IF YOU KNOW YOU ARE ALLERGIC TO IODINE (SEE SIDE EFFECTS BELOW).

INDICATIONS

THYROID BLOCKING IN A RADIATION EMERGENCY ONLY

DIRECTIONS FOR USE

Use only as directed by State or local public health authorities in the event of a radiation emergency.

DOSE

ADULTS AND CHILDREN ONE YEAR OF AGE OR

OLDER: One (1) tablet once a day. Crush for small children.

BABIES UNDER ONE YEAR OF AGE: One-half (1/2) tablet once a day. Crush first.

DOSAGE: Take for 10 days unless directed otherwise by State or local public health authorities.

Certain forms of iodine help your thyroid gland work right. Most people get the iodine they need from foods like iodized salt or fish. The thyroid can "store" or hold only a certain amount of iodine.

In a radiation emergency, radioactive iodine may be released in the air. This material may be breathed or swallowed. It may enter the thyroid gland and damage it. The damage would probably not show itself for years. Children are most likely to have thyroid damage.

If you take potassium iodide, it will fill up your thyroid gland. This reduces the chance that harmful radioactive iodine will enter the thyroid gland.

WHO SHOULD NOT TAKE POTASSIUM IODIDE

The only people who should not take potassium iodide are people who know they are allergic to iodide. You may take potassium iodide even if you are taking medicines for a thyroid problem (for example, a thyroid hormone or anti-thyroid drug). Pregnant and nursing women and babies and children may also take this drug.

HOW AND WHEN TO TAKE POTASSIUM IODIDE

Potassium iodide should be taken as soon as possible after public health officials tell you. You should take one dose every 24 hours. More will not help you because the thyroid can "hold" only limited amounts of iodine. Larger doses will increase the risk of side effects. You will probably be told not to take the drug for more than 10 days.

SIDE EFFECTS

Usually, side effects of potassium iodide happen when people take higher doses for a long time. You should be careful not to take more than the recommended dose or take it for longer than you are told. Side effects are unlikely because of the low dose and the short time you will be taking the drug.

Possible side effects include skin rashes, swelling of the salivary glands, and "iodism" (metallic taste, burning mouth and throat, sore teeth and gums, symptoms of a head cold, and sometimes stomach upset and diarrhea).

A few people have an allergic reaction with more serious symptoms. These could be fever and joint pains, or swelling of parts of the face and body and at times severe shortness of breath requiring immediate medical attention.

Taking iodide may rarely cause overactivity of the thyroid gland, underactivity of the thyroid gland, or enlargement of the thyroid gland (goiter).

WHAT TO DO IF SIDE EFFECTS OCCUR

If the side effects are severe or if you have an allergic reaction, stop taking potassium iodide. Then, if possible, call a doctor or public health authority for instructions.

The FDA new (November, 2001) guidance document, that brings it more in-line
with the recent World Health Organization recommendations below, is titled;
"Potassium Iodide as a Thyroid Blocking Agent in Radiation Emergencies".
It can be seen here http://www.ki4u.com/fda.htm.
This represents the Food and Drug Administration's current
thinking on this topic.

In regards to the differences between the World Health Organization dosing recommendations and these new FDA recommendations, this FDA document states:

These FDA recommendations differ from those put forward in the World Health Organization (WHO) 1999 guidelines for iodine prophylaxis in two ways. WHO recommends a 130-mg dose of KI for adults and adolescents (over 12 years). For the sake of logistical simplicity in the dispensing and administration of KI to children, FDA recommends a 65-mg dose as standard for all school-age children while allowing for the adult dose (130 mg, 2 X 65 mg tablets) in adolescents approaching adult size. The other difference lies in the threshold for predicted exposure of those up to 18 years of age and of pregnant or lactating women that should trigger KI prophylaxis. WHO recommends a threshold of 1 cGy for these two groups. As stated earlier, FDA has concluded from the Chernobyl data that the most reliable evidence supports a significant increase in the risk of childhood thyroid cancer at exposures of 5 cGy or greater.

Threshold Thyroid Radioactive Exposures and Recommended Doses of KI for Different Risk Groups

The
World Health Organization recent recommendations has a step increase
in doses by age (chart below) and also states the potential benefit diminishes with older adults.
In fact, if only a limited number of Potassium Iodide (KI) or KIO3 tablets are available, these should always
be given to infants, children and young adults first as they are the most vulnerable and
also the risk of thyroid cancer fully developing begins to drop off with adults much over 40 years of age.

"In general, the potential benefit of iodine prophylaxis will be greater in the young, firstly because the small size of the thyroid means that a higher radiation dose is accumulated per unit intake of radioactive iodine. Secondly, the thyroid of the fetus, neonate and young infant has a higher yearly thyroid cancer risk per unit dose than the thyroid of an adult and, thirdly, the young will have a longer time span for the expression of the increased cancer risk."

"They suggest that the risk of thyroid cancer is inversely related to age, and that, especially in young children, it may accrue at very low levels of radioiodine exposure." and also that "...adults over 40 need take KI only in the case of a projected large internal radiation dose to the thyroid (>500 cGy) to prevent hypothyroidism."

To help make sense of any possible dosing confusion and radiation level thresholds, it should be remembered first that you
should not commence dosing until so directed by a doctor or public health officials. Also, the
biggest difference in dosage and ages, between the two recommendations, is that WHO
suggests an adult dose (130mg KI) for everyone over 12 where the FDA suggests an adult dose
for everyone over 18, unless the adolescent weighs 70kg (154 lbs) or more. And, again, the primary reason for this divergence from the WHO recommendations is that, according to the FDA: For the sake of logistical simplicity in the dispensing and administration of KI to children, FDA recommends a 65-mg dose as standard for all school-age children while allowing for the adult dose (130 mg, 2 X 65 mg tablets) in adolescents approaching adult size.

At the WHO dosages recommended above, an adverse reaction rate of less than 1 in 10 million children and less than 1 in 1
million adults is expected. However, Potassium Iodide should not be used by people allergic to
iodine. According to the WHO,
contraindications for use of potassium iodide are: (1) past or present thyroid disease (e.g., active hyperthyroidism),
(2) known iodine hypersensitivity, (3) dermatitis herpetiformis, and (4) hypocomplementaemic
vasculitis.

You should also check with your doctor before
taking this medication if you have myotonia or
hyperkalemia congenita or tuberculosis or kidney disease.
See http://www.mayoclinic.com/ for more information.

Pregnant women should consult a physician prior to continuing dosages for more than two days.
According to the WHO,
"No negative consequences are to be expected after one or two doses of stable iodine.
However, especially in areas with dietary iodine deficiency, prolonged dosage could lead to maternal and/ or fetal thyroid
blockage, with possible consequences for fetal development. ... Pregnant women with active hyperthyroidism must not
take stable iodine because of the risk of fetal thyroid blockage."

The WHO also states, and the FDA concurs, "Side effects in other parts of the body, such as gastrointestinal effects or hypersensitivity reactions,
may occur but are generally mild and can be considered of minor importance."

One additional recommendation we urge at KI4U, now before any nuclear emergencies,
is simply to check with your doctor and inquire whether there is any possibility of
any adverse reactions if you, or your children, had to begin
taking KI or KIO3. If you are concerned enough to be reading this and considering
acquiring KI or KIO3 for your family, then checking with your doctor first should be a
natural step in your prudent preparations, too.

Besides contraindications with pre-exisiting medical conditions, this is also important if you
(or they) are taking any
regular medications. Especially, though not limited to, Spironolactone (like Aldactone), Triamterene (Dyrenium),
Amiloride (Midamor), or medicines for an overactive thyroid, or if you are on medications with
any lithium-based or potassium-sparing diuretics.

Better
to have gotten that assurance from your physician now, before any emergencies,
rather than risk hesitating taking it later (or possibly suffering an adverse
reaction) because you didn't ask first. Again, that's just a part of your prudent
preparations, where anyone else being issued Potassium Iodide (KI) during an emergency probably
won't have that opportunity to find out first!

We have a fair number of medical doctors (often initially sent by their patients),
pharmacists, health physicists, and medical schools refer to this FAQ. We are very grateful for the
medical communities generous suggestions, and additional related research we've received or have been pointed to.
We invite any/all input from the medical community to better fine-tune or expand the research documented at the
Potassium Iodide Anti-Radiation Pill FAQ.
-Shane Connor.

Q: Is Iodized Salt, Tincture of Iodine, Water Purification Tabs, or other Iodine Sources Effective?

A: Any dietary iodine sources providing for a normal daily sufficient regimen of
iodine intake (about 150 micrograms/day in adults) is preferred in that it will then take less stable iodine (and time) to saturate your thyroid in
a nuclear emergency and there will be less room there for radioactive iodine before you do. An iodine
sufficient diet will also greatly increase the effectiveness of KI or KIO3, but primarily only
in the following limited context and not as a substitute for KI or KIO3:

An iodine
sufficient diet is most beneficial, compared to an insufficient iodine diet, when the initial administration of KI
had been unavoidably delayed and the KI could only be first taken after exposure to
radioiodine.

From the
Health Physics Journal, Volume 78 No. 6, June 2000, "EFFECTS OF TIME OF
ADMINISTRATION AND DIETARY IODINE LEVELS ON POTASSIUM IODIDE (KI) BLOCKADE OF
THYROID IRRADIATION BY 131-I FROM RADIOACTIVE FALLOUT" Pat B. Zanzonico and David V. Becker (Read abstract by searching title
at Health Physics Journal):

"The 131-I thyroid absorbed dose is two-fold greater with insufficient levels of dietary iodine, 2,900 cGy/37 MBq,
than with sufficient levels of dietary iodine, 1,500 cGy/37 MBq. When KI is administered 48 h or less before 131-I intake,
the thyroid absorbed doses (in cGy/37 MBq) are comparably low with both sufficient and insufficient dietary iodine levels.
When KI is administered after 131-I intake, however, the protective effect of KI is less and decreases more rapidly with
insufficient than with sufficient dietary iodine. For example, KI administration 2 and 8 h after 131-I intake yields protective
effects of 80 and 40%, respectively, with iodine-sufficient diets, but only 65 and 15% with iodine-deficient diets."

However, in regards to the effective thyroid-blocking protection directly afforded by various sources of dietary iodine, and other
iodine applications, taken alone without also utilizing KI or KIO3, it was found...

Kelp Tablets...hardly.
Solgar® Kelp Tablets, for example, contain only 225 MICROGRAMS of iodine!
(Fortunately, it is also available in a 1000 tablet bottle, unfortunately though, you'd need to be swallowing 442 of them per day and not wander too far from a bathroom!)

Medicines containing Potassium Iodide:
Potassium iodide (KI) is an old drug used as an expectorant in the treatment of asthma,
bronchitis and emphysema. It is used to treat coughs with phlegm, feeling of fullness in
the chest or pressure in the face/sinuses. Potassium iodide helps loosen phlegm (mucus) and thin bronchial
secretions to drain bronchial tubes and make coughs more productive. It increases secretions in the respiratory tract in
approximately 30 min.
Today it is mainly used to treat an overactive thyroid and, of course, to protect the
thyroid gland from the effects of radiation from inhaled or swallowed radioactive iodine.
Potassium iodide also has anti-infective properties and
is sometimes used to treat certain skin conditions caused by fungus, like
toenail fungus.

PIMA (Fleming & Company) and SSKI
(Upsher-Smith Laboratories, Inc.) are both
available in tablets or liquid, but only with a prescription.
Another, that used to be a non-prescription
cough and expectorant medicine available over-the-counter (OTC) is Pediacof Cough made by
Sterling Health, a Division of Miles, Inc.
Common 5 ml dose contains Chlorpheniramine 0.75 mg, Codeine 5 mg, Phenylephrine 2.5 mg,
Potassium Iodide 75 mg.

Any of the above may or may not be available from your local pharmacy with a prescription from your doctor. We can't and don't recommend you ever take
any drug for any reason other than what it was intended for, nor that the suggested dosages
should ever be exceeded. There may be other OTC medicines containing Potassium Iodide on the
market
as well, please pass them on
here if you discover any.

Also, FYI, Potassium Iodide can be found in some livestock preparations, too, such as
Equi-Tussin, which is a liquid expectorant and aromatic oil supplement for horses. It
contains 125 mg of Potassium Iodide per fluid ounce, but it also contains Molasses,
Mentholated Syrup of White Pine, Eucalyptus Oil, Peppermint Oil, Glyceryl Guiacolate and Ammonium Chloride
and is obviously formulated for horses, not people. You might want to keep this in mind,
though, for protecting your livestock and pets.

Regarding ingesting (drinking/swallowing) iodine, iodine tablets (widely sold for water purification),
tincture of iodine, or Povidone-iodine solutions (like the Betadine® brand solution): Cresson H. Kearny, the author of
Nuclear War Survival Skills,
Original Edition Published September, 1979, by Oak Ridge National Laboratory,
a Facility of the U.S. Department of Energy (Updated and Expanded 1987 Edition) states on
page 115:

Elemental (free) iodine is poisonous, except in the very small amounts in water
disinfected with iodine tablets or a few drops of tincture of iodine. Furthermore,
elemental iodine supplied by iodine tablets and released by tincture of iodine dropped
into water is not effective as a blocking agent to prevent thyroid damage. If you do not
have any potassium iodide, DO NOT TAKE IODINE TABLETS OR TINCTURE
OF IODINE.

Iodine is normally used in doses of 8 PPM to treat clear water for a 10 minute contact time.
The effectiveness and safety of this
dose has been shown in numerous studies.
As far back as 1953 in the study "Test of chronic toxicity of iodine as related to the
purification of water". U.S. Armed Forces medical journal, 1953, 4:725-728 Morgan DP, Karpen
RJ., it was shown that:

"No adverse health effects were reported in men who drank water providing iodide at doses
of 0.17-0.27 mg/kg of body weight per day for 26 weeks"

That works out to a reported safe ingestion of elemental iodine via treated water of between
14 and 22 mg
per day for
an 180 lb adult. To attempt to achieve a thyroid-blocking dose of nearly 100 mg of iodine
(the iodine content of a 130 mg KI tablet) would thus require exceeding that proven safe level
by a factor of at least four to seven times for an 180 lb adult. And, this would be with
potentially poisonous elemental free iodine
that is also claimed above by Cresson H. Kearny to be "...not effective as a blocking agent
to prevent thyroid damage."

Additionally, USP tincture of iodine contains 2% iodine and 2.4% sodium iodide dissolved in 50% ethyl alcohol and
according to the National Academy of Sciences in Drinking Water and Health. Vol. 3. Washington, DC, National Academy Press, 1980.

Doses of 30-250 ml of tincture of iodine (about 16-130 mg of total iodine per kg of body
weight) have been reported to be fatal.

The small typical one ounce bottle of tincture of iodine contains about one tablespoon or
approximately 30 ml of fluid. (The larger pint bottles contain 473 ml.) To a small child,
ingesting the small 1 ounce bottle, even if well diluted to make it palatable, could
prove fatal.

Everyone needs to understand that all 'tincture of iodine' bottles are clearly marked "POISON" for a very
good reason. Ingesting elemental free iodine, such as 'tincture of iodine', in quantities sufficient to attempt
thyroid-blocking in a nuclear emergency is not a safe, nor an effective, alternative.

Finally, if you do attempt thyroid-blocking for yourself or your children by ingesting iodine,
iodine water purification tablets, tincture of iodine, or Povidone-iodine
solutions (like the Betadine® brand solution), and we are strongly advising against it, you can look forward to:

Then, be prepared to call the Poison Control center for further guidance.DO NOT INDUCE VOMITING.
Give milk, cornstarch, or flour by mouth (15 gm in 500 ml, or just over a pint of water). Continue to give milk every 15 minutes.

And, at the Emergency Room expect some or all of the following procedures to be performed:
Gastric lavage (depending on the extent of esophageal injury), establish and maintain airway,
be given milk every 15 minutes,
and treatment for the symptoms.

Topical Iodine Applications

There has been some interesting research, though, with both humans and dogs into topically (on the skin)
applied Povidone-Iodine (10%) solution (such as Betadine® or Povidex® solutions), and also with tincture of iodine,
to test the absorption rates of iodine directly through the skin. But, it was found not to
be as quick in providing thyroid blocking as oral Potassium Iodide (KI) or KIO3, nor as
consistent, and then, often, at lower levels of protection. Questions remain of skin irritation,
determining the amount of Iodine solution to apply, where best to apply it, how long to apply
it, and the effects of temperature and humidity on absorption through the skin. Also,
insufficient testing has been done on specific groups, such as infants, children,
and pregnant and nursing women to know how effective
it would be and the full range of complications that could be expected with repeated applications.
For instance, the skin absorption of iodine products in neonates with inhibition of thyroid
function has been documented in the past. The use of Povidone-Iodine is the most frequent
cause of this type of intoxication. Another study showed that Povidone-Iodine did not
significantly influence neonatal thyroid function if they were used to a full term neonate
only once and even to a wide skin surface.

Another source, non-medical, claims that by
using the stronger 7% tincture iodine and just dipping the index finger of the person being treated up
to the first knuckle (just above the fingernail) would provide the proper dosing. They claim
this would work for all people as our fingers
are roughly proportionate to our size and weight. That may be true, but that this technique
would actually provide sufficient quantity and effective absorption of iodine for
thyroid-blocking has
not been verified. (Additional documentation and
source references have been requested of that author. And, will be promptly posted here
if provided.)

Clearly more research
is needed before embracing the topically applied techniques as a one-size-fits-all
solution, as its limitations must first
be more fully understood. However...

According to research by Health Physicist Ken Miller, Hershey Medical
Center, using 24 healthy adult male subjects, an adult could get a blocking dose of stable iodine by painting 8 ml of a 2 percent
tincture of Iodine on the abdomen or forearm approximately 2 hours prior to I-131 contamination.
The abstract of his
study titled "Effectiveness of Skin Absorption of Tincture of I in Blocking Radioiodine from
the Human Thyroid Gland" from Health Physics, June 1989,
Vol. 56, No. 6, pages 911-914, (To read abstract, search the title of the article here) states:

"Although there were large variations within each subject group in regard to serum-I levels and thyroid uptakes,
the increase in serum-I concentration after topical-I application was effective in reducing the thyroid uptake of I131.
The authors conclude that in the absence of KI, most humans would benefit from topical application of tincture of-I, and
that in some the effectiveness would equal that of oral KI."

Hmmm... interesting Plan "B"(Betadine®) possibilities here, if in a pinch!

This author continues to see e-mails and forum postings highlighting some of the ongoing confusion regarding different iodine sources and their abilities to provide sufficient levels of iodine for thyroid-blocking radioiodine.
This should help clear it up some more...

Potassium iodide (KI) is 76.5% iodine.

If the FDA recommended amount required for thyroid-blocking radiation protection is 130 milligrams of KI, then that translates into 99.45 milligrams of elemental iodine.

If you are looking at a product, like a kelp liquid for example, that says on the label...

Q: Is the government ready with emergency stocks of KI?

"The American Thyroid Association through its Public Health Committee has strongly recommended
the stockpiling of KI for prophylaxis in the event of a nuclear reactor accident. Unfortunately, the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission has not accepted this recommendation."

"As time is of the essence in optimal prophylaxis with KI, timely administration to the public is a critical consideration in planning the emergency response to a radiation accident and requires a ready supply of KI." and "FDA also emphasizes that emergency response plans and any systems for ensuring availability of KI to the public should recognize the critical importance of KI administration in advance of exposure to radioiodine."

But, at least your government is talking about it again...

U.S. Lacks Stockpile of Special Drug
Anti-Radiation Doses Goal Unmet Since '79

A generation ago, as a nuclear disaster unfolded in central Pennsylvania and 140,000 people fled the area, pharmaceutical executives were rousted from bed in the middle of the night by a plea for help.

At the federal government's request, they cranked up a production line in Illinois at 3 a.m., and hours later, thousands of bottles of potassium iodide, an anti-radiation drug, were secretly rushed to Harrisburg by military jet. Ultimately the nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island was brought under control and the drug was not needed, but it was a close call. When it was over, policymakers in Washington vowed to stockpile the drug, saying they would not be caught short again.

It never happened.

Terrorists have spoken longingly of their desire to blow up the United States' nuclear plants and poison the land with radiation. But if a nuclear disaster were to occur today, whether by terrorist strike or otherwise, the government might well be in the same position it was in1979, trying to scare up supplies of the drug on short notice.

Potassium iodide is often billed on the Internet as a panacea for a nuclear emergency. It is nothing of the sort, offering no protection for most types of radiation exposure. But there is strong scientific evidence that it can protect the thyroid gland, the most radiation-sensitive part of the body, from absorbing trace amounts of radioactive iodine, particularly in young children.

Despite that finding, there has long been a serious debate about how valuable stockpiles of the drug would be in a real-world emergency, since it is most effective when taken within a couple of hours of radiation exposure. Unless people already had it in their houses, skeptics argue, getting it to them that quickly would be difficult, at best. Most European countries and four U.S. states stockpile the drug for general public use, while the rest of the states and the federal government do not.

That policy is under renewed scrutiny since the Sept. 11 attacks and the anthrax scare that followed. The federal government was better prepared for the anthrax emergency, in fact, than it would be to distribute potassium iodide for radiation. It had stockpiled millions of doses of antibiotics and was able to draw on those stores when thousands of exposed people needed preventive medicine. The lack of a potassium iodide stockpile irks many doctors and other experts who have delved into the issue.

"The first thing is, there ain't none available," said David Becker, a Cornell University specialist in thyroid diseases. "Some of us in organizations like the American Thyroid Association have been yelling and screaming for 15 years about this. It seems to me it doesn't make any sense for the U.S. not to have any at all."

Potassium iodide is not expensive, nor is it difficult to manufacture or store for long periods. The drug is approved for thyroid protection by the Food and Drug Administration, a position the agency reiterated earlier this month.

One reason for the lack of a stockpile is that, however cheap it may be, potassium iodide is also controversial.

The nuclear power industry, which stocks potassium iodide to protect workers in its plants, has long opposed a large public stockpile, carrying as it would the implication that nuclear power might be unsafe.

Some experts charged with protecting the public from radiation oppose it, too, fearing the drug would be seen as a cure-all. These experts contend that evacuation and careful monitoring of the food supply would be better ways to protect public health.

In the halls of Congress and elsewhere in the nation, these arguments are being scrutinized anew. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, after going back and forth for years, has adopted a policy that is mildly favorable toward potassium iodide. The Health and Human Services Department is considering whether to add the drug to its national anti-terrorism stockpile.

Under the new NRC policy, states must decide whether to tap NRC funds to create regional or local stockpiles. This means a public discussion of the drug and its potential usefulness is likely to occur in virtually every state over the next year.

The drug is a hot political issue in some communities. Alabama, Arizona, Maine and Tennessee already have some form of stockpiling. The citizens of Duxbury, Mass., who live near a nuclear plant, passed a stockpiling plan last year. Vermont recently pledged an expanded stockpile, and a vigorous debate is underway throughout New England and in some towns in New York.

The World Health Organization recommends stockpiling for every country with nuclear reactors operating within or near its borders. Ireland just announced plans to send the drug to every household in the country.

Potassium iodide availability is one of those issues that rarely rises to public awareness, but it has a long underground history that has played out in Washington and in state capitals over decades. The arguments being heard today are familiar ones to participants in that debate, with fear of terrorism as the new twist.

"In the immortal words of Yogi Berra, it's déjà vuall over again," said Jerome Halperin, the man who rousted pharmaceutical executives from bed during the Three Mile Island crisis. He was then an officer of the FDA, and he has a hard time believing the nation has no stockpile 22 years after the federal government promised to build one.

But others are skeptical of the value of stockpiling. Illinois, for instance, has 11 nuclear reactors operating on six sites, more than any other state, and it has made some of the most elaborate plans in the nation for responding to a radiation emergency. They call for people to evacuate or take shelter when necessary to escape a radiation plume, but they do not call for potassium iodide. Most other states that have considered the issue have adopted the same position.

The Nuclear Energy Institute, a trade association for the nuclear industry that has long opposed stockpiling, says it can live with the new NRC policy, but its experts remain skeptical of the real-world value of potassium iodide. "Concern No. 1 is that people not get confused that this is some sort of panacea for any kind of radiation exposure," said Ralph Andersen, chief health physicist at the nuclear institute.

The value -- and the limitations -- of potassium iodide have been known to researchers for decades, and there is little dispute on the scientific points.

Nuclear reactors produce many radioactive substances that can harm people. One, radioactive iodine, poses a particular worry because the human thyroid gland uses iodine as a fundamental building block of hormones that play critical roles in metabolism. The body cannot distinguish the safe form of iodine present in food and table salt from the radioactive form that comes from nuclear reactors.

It has been known since the 1950s that young children are acutely sensitive to radioactive iodine, but the point was illustrated dramatically when the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine blew up in 1986, scattering radiation across hundreds of miles.

For those living at a distance from the plant, virtually the only known health effect has been a huge spike in cases of thyroid cancer among children. At least 2,000 "excess" cases in Ukraine, Belarus and nearby areas have been attributed to Chernobyl radiation. Thyroid cancer can usually be treated, but that may require surgery, regular monitoring and lifetime medication.

The idea behind potassium iodide is that the thyroid gland can store only so much iodine. A potassium iodide pill given near the time of radiation exposure floods the gland with safe iodine and reduces or eliminates the absorption of radioactive iodine. Potassium iodide is the same chemical used to add iodine to table salt, but the pills contain higher doses. Anyone can buy the pills, though they are not widely available in stores and most people do not know about them.

Potassium iodide can protect people only from radioactive iodine, not other kinds of radioactive fallout. Bearing that in mind, skeptics say the much-preferred course, in an accident, would be to get people out of the radioactive plume or into shelters. Advocates of the drug tend to agree, they but argue that if evacuation plans went awry, potassium iodide would be better than nothing.

Whatever the merits of these positions, there is no doubt that during Three Mile Island, the nation's closest brush with nuclear disaster, the government wound up scrambling to round up supplies of the drug at the last minute.

In that episode, a partial "meltdown" at a nuclear plant led to the release of small amounts of radioactive material, including iodine. For several days there was fear the reactor would explode, and state evacuation plans turned out to be woefully inadequate. Given the prospect of widespread radiation exposure, the FDA decided midway through the disaster to rush a supply of potassium iodide to Pennsylvania.

Hunkered down at an FDA emergency center, Halperin and colleagues spent the evening of March 30, 1979, desperately calling pharmaceutical and chemical companies. Finally Mallinckrodt Inc. of St. Louis said it had bulk drug on hand and could package it at a plant in Illinois. The first bottles were flown to Harrisburg the next evening by Air Force jet.

To forestall a riot, no public announcement was made about the drug. The emergency passed without it being used, and eventually the stockpile grew old and was discarded.

A presidential commission that investigated the accident, appalled by this frantic episode, recommended broad stockpiling of the drug in the areas around nuclear reactors, and the NRC agreed. But as memories of the emergency faded, the agency backed out of that commitment, and the issue has been periodically debated ever since.

Many opponents of stockpiling acknowledge that Chernobyl provides compelling evidence of the risk of thyroid cancer from a radiation disaster, but they say a comparable degree of exposure would be unlikely in this country.

When Chernobyl blew up, the Soviet Union spent days lying about the accident and failed to halt distribution of contaminated food. There is evidence that much of the radioactive exposure came from this failure. The radioactive iodine fell on fields, cows ate the grass, and children drank milk from the cows. Safety experts say the United States, by contrast, would almost certainly move quickly to block radioactive food.

The most recent federal policy change on potassium iodide came before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, but the issue has taken on a new urgency since those attacks.

The change was initiated from within the NRC itself. Peter Crane, then a lawyer on the agency's staff, was a thyroid-cancer victim who thought the failure to stockpile could not be defended. He filed a petition as a member of the public in 1995, then spent years prodding the agency. It eventually adopted a compromise under which it has pledged to pay for potassium iodide for states that want it.

The NRC is still finalizing plans to implement that policy. Meanwhile, the Health and Human Services Department is considering buying some of the drug to add to its own anti-terrorism stockpiles. However, there is debate about whether the drug could be distributed from these regional stockpiles quickly enough to do any good.

The most aggressive plan would be to follow several European countries in distributing the drug to every household. But American experience suggests that would be a difficult policy to maintain over the long term. Tennessee launched such a program in the early 1980s for people living near nuclear plants, but participation has dropped to about 5 percent of households.

Tennessee maintains stockpiles near its emergency shelters, however, and is confident it could make the drug available quickly to large numbers of people.

"It doesn't seem like very much of a burden, what we're doing," said Ruth Hagstrom, the state health administrator who would give the order if potassium iodide ever had to be used in Tennessee. "We're sort of happy with the way we do things, and we wonder why everybody else doesn't do it, too."

The above referred government discussions, commitments and bills are certainly hopeful,
but remember those proposed Potassium Iodide (KI) emergency stocks are not yet in-place
for any nuclear radiation emergency today, nor likely for tomorrow.
(With the exception of some very limited state funded Potassium Iodide (KI) stockpiling in
Alabama, Arizona,
Maine, and Tennessee.)

"The American Thyroid Association has been pleading since 1989 for a more enlightened policy on KI. The World Health Organization is moving toward recommending more aggressive intervention with KI. The international Basic Safety Standards, to which the U.S. is a signatory, call for KI to be part of emergency planning. Internationally, the NRC's penny-pinching on KI is bringing no glory to U.S. radiation protection efforts. If you talk to doctors and radiation protection specialists from other countries, they shake their heads in disbelief that the United States believes it cannot afford the million or two or three dollars it would take to bring its children's protection up to world standards. (The international community can also see, from the frequency with which NRC Commissioners jet around the world, that the NRC is not completely strapped for funds.) "

Remember, too, that
you must start taking
Potassium Iodide (KI) before you are exposed to attain the maximum
flooding of
your thyroid with stable iodine and thus blocking subsequent
uptake of radioiodine contamination.

Unless the government not only acquires sufficient Potassium Iodide (KI) stock for the public,
but also then
provides it to each household to stock and hold themselves, so as to have it
ready on hand BEFORE a nuclear radiation emergency event, then critical life-saving
time would still be needlessly wasted trying to distribute it during a
nuclear radiation emergency. (Only about 7,500 Americans,
people living within a few miles of a nuclear power plant in Tennessee,
have been given prophylactic potassium iodide to keep in their
homes.)

Any government attempts to quickly dispense millions of doses to the
affected and frantic target populations downwind of an ongoing nuclear radiation emergency
would surely be a scene of great panic and disarray. The resultant delays
created in attempting to distribute KI, in mass, in that fearful and anxious
atmosphere would also have unnecessarily exposed that population to even
higher radiation contaminations.

Unfortunately, even that better-late-than-never potential distribution chaos
is not likely an option as, to date, the government 'stockpiles' are
currently tiny and woefully insufficient.
Unfortunately, too, you can not count on the arrival of new government Potassium Iodide (KI) supplies being established in-place to protect your family any time soon.
(A variety of government agencies have been 'talking about' stockpiling Potassium Iodide (KI) for public protection ever since Three Mile Island---over twenty years ago!)

"As a result, we are still in a pre-Three Mile Island state of preparedeness on KI, when the drug is routinely stockpiled (and in some countries predistributed to individual houses) in many European countries, including France, Germany, Switzerland, the UK, Sweden, Norway, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, etc., plus Japan and Canada."

However, the stockpiles are limited
and are not likely to provide enough KI for use by the general public in a
major radiological emergency.

Governments world-wide are now stockpiling potassium iodide for their citizens
but, amazingly, not here in the U.S. For an insightful and in-depth look 'behind
the curtains' of the NRC KI debate, read the full text of what Peter Crane, the recently retired lawyer
with the NRC (after over 20
years) has to say in The NRC's "Fighter Jet Rule" on KI.

Q: Will Potassium Iodide (KI) flush radioactive iodine out of the thyroid gland?

A: The question might better be; If you don't have any Potassium Iodide (KI) and rely on the
government to acquire and distribute KI, and
after some delay, you do eventually get Potassium Iodide (KI) for your family, but it's now
hours or days into the nuclear radiation emergency, will Potassium Iodide (KI) still help?

Yes and No.

Yes, but only to the degree your thyroid is still less
than 100% saturated with either form of iodine (radioactive or stable).
Then the Potassium Iodide (KI) will safely fill up the balance so your thyroid will not have
room for later additional uptake of radioactive iodine.

In fact, radioactive isotopes, once bound in the thyroid, cannot be
flushed out by subsequent administration of nonradioactive iodine. To be
effective in preventing the uptake and binding of radioactive isotopes,
stable iodine must be administered before exposure. A daily 130-mg dose of
stable KI, starting one-half hour to one day before the arrival of fallout
or other material contaminated with radioactive iodine, will effectively
saturate the thyroid, giving 99% effective protection. A 130-mg tablet or
four drops of a saturated solution of KI may be used.

"...Only about 50 percent of the uptake is blocked if the iodide administration is delay six hours and little effect can
be achieved if the delay is more than 12 hours... If stable iodied is given after the first 24 hours, it may sometimes prolong
the retention of iodine, since it suppressses the release of thyroid hormone..."

Also, from the Health Physics Journal, Volume 78 No. 6, June 2000, "EFFECTS OF TIME OF
ADMINISTRATION AND DIETARY IODINE LEVELS ON POTASSIUM IODIDE (KI) BLOCKADE OF
THYROID IRRADIATION BY 131-I FROM RADIOACTIVE FALLOUT" Pat B. Zanzonico and David V. Becker (Read abstract by searching title at Health Physics Journal):

"KI administration 2 and 8 h after 131-I intake yields protective effects of 80 and 40%, respectively, with
iodine-sufficient diets, but only 65 and 15% with iodine-deficient diets. KI administration 16 h or later after 131-I exposure
will have little effect on thyroid uptake and absorbed dose and therefore little or no protective effect."

Clearly, any delay in flooding your thyroid with Potassium Iodide (KI) is a serious risk to
be aggressively avoided, especially for your children.
To depend on government KI emergency stocks that currently don't exist
and some ad-hoc untested distribution 'plan' that'll likely be chaotic,
at best, can only add up to unnecessary additional delays and radiation
exposure.
Add to this having your family members possibly scattered amongst work,
home, school, etc. and all getting conflicting warnings and at varied times,
and it becomes clear that NOT already having your Potassium Iodide (KI) in-hand could become
your worst family nightmare.

BUT, it can/should be a largely avoidable disaster for your loved ones,
IF you had already acquired your families emergency supply of Potassium
Iodide (KI) and have them on hand!
(You could then also be of service to your community in two ways: #1 - By
sharing any extra Potassium Iodide (KI) supplies with friends and neighbors and,
#2 - By being one less person standing in line in front of your other
neighbors anxiously awaiting the delayed government Potassium Iodide (KI) hand out.)

Q: What about Potassium Iodate (KIO3)?

A: Potassium Iodate (KIO3), offered in an 85 mg tablet
(200 tablets to a bottle),
is the 'cousin' of Potassium Iodide (KI). This is the 'new kid on
the block' commercially offered here in the U.S. for preventative thyroid blocking of radioiodine. With its
extra molecule of oxygen, making it KIO3, its U.S. manufacturer, Medical Corps,
claims it is/has...

extended shelf life

no bitter taste

cheaper per dose

KIO3 has an iodine content of 60%, so two 85 mg tablets (170 mg total,
one adult dose) works out to 103 mg of available iodine. (That's very similar
to KI, with its iodine content of 76.5%, to where each 130 mg tablet of
KI has 99.45 mg of iodine available.)

Regarding the extended KIO3 shelf-life; it is more stable as KIO3 is non-hygroscopic
(very stable in humid air) where Potassium Iodide (KI) will readily dissolve in water. However, to put
this into perspective, Potassium Iodide (KI) tablets sealed in their original packaging have also been
tested, many years after it was manufactured and 'expired', and found to be quite
stable and maintaining full strength. See Potassium Iodide (KI) stability report below here.
Additionally, the recently updated 1999 World Health Organization:
Guidelines for Iodine Prophylaxis following Nuclear Accidents states:
"There is no decisive difference in shelf life between KIO3 and KI."

Regarding the lack of a bitter taste; this is quite true, you can actually chew these
tablets as they have no taste at all. However, for most adults,
they should go down quite readily and offer no problems. (Note: A new Potassium Iodide (KI) tablet, KI4U™
is actually coated to assure no bitterness taste.) However, if even the thought
of having to swallow a pill (regardless of the size) is a challenge, and it is for some,
this might be a more important feature.

More importantly, though, because the KIO3 formulation (and KI4U™ KI) requires the taking
of two tablets for a complete adult daily dose, children then can more easily be correctly
dosed, too, as they will always require less than a full adult dose.

For instance, children age 3-12, who require exactly half of an adult dose, can simply
take one single/whole tablet of KIO3 (or KI4U™ KI) for their required full daily dose.
In comparison, the Potassium Iodide (KI) tablets offered by two other manufacturers, where their single
tablet is a full adult dose, dosing children would thus require effectively splitting,
and sometimes even quartering or eighthing those already tiny tablets and they are also
quite bitter. That would certainly make it much harder to quickly and properly dose children, who
are always at the greatest risk from radioiodine, both from accurately attaining
the proper dose amount and then the need to cover or dilute
the bitterness. Especially when
everyone concerned would likely be in a very stressful and urgent emergency situation.

Regarding the reduced per dose cost; KIO3, as offered and priced by its manufacturer,
is clearly competitive with the available Potassium Iodide (KI) tablets current pricing.

Adults, and Children over 12 years of age:
Take: 2 tablets per day for 15 days (minimum) to 85 days

Children 3 years to 12 years:
Take: 1 tablet per day for 15 days (minimum) to 85 days

Babies 1 month to 3 years
Take: ½ tablet per day for 15 days (minimum) to 85 days

Newborns to 1 month:
Take: ¼ tablet per day for 15 days (minimum) to 85 days

Pets: for 15 days (minimum) to 85 days
Large Dog-- 1-2 tablets per day
Medium Dog-- 1/2 to 1 tablet per day
Cats-- 1/4 to ½ tablet per day

We are continuing our research into KIO3 and have learned that a number of other countries have been stockpiling it for nuclear emergencies. Among those we've been able to confirm are the United Kingdom and South Africa, where they both utilize KIO3 for protecting their populations surrounding their nuclear power plants.

Information request to the United Kingdom National Radiological Protection Board produced this reply (11/11/99) from Frances A. Fry, Division Head, NRPB:

Potassium iodate tablets are manufactured in the UK by Cambridge Laboratories. Most of the production is held by the nuclear industry for emergencies. A small amount is sold to hospitals. some is retained by Cambridge Laboratories.

The use of potassium iodate, rather than iodide, was current practice in
the UK. A UK working group on iodine prophylaxis following nuclear accidents concluded that there was no obvious benefit of potassium iodide over potassium iodate. Reference: Department of Health, Report on Health and Social subjects 39, Nuclear Accident Countermeasures: Iodine Prophylaxis, 1991.

Another information request to the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology
Organisation (ANSTO) was an inquiry into their preference for having
acquired potassium iodide over iodate this past year. The response from Brian Holland,
Senior Health Physicist at ANSTO on Mon, 8 Nov 1999 was:

The choice of potassium iodide or iodate was made purely on a cost basis,
iodide was significantly cheaper than iodate. The important fact is that
the stable iodine content of both tablets is the same (100mg). The only
information I have regarding a difference in the two forms is the storage
life. As TGA do not seem to like more than 5 years for an expiry date this
did not seem important.

The 'TGA' referenced above is the Australian government Therapeutic Goods
Administration, their version of the U.S. FDA.
Also, it should be noted, the potassium iodate tablet source they were
considering was not the U.S. manufactured, or priced, Medical Corps brand.

Because KIO3 is new to the U.S. market for this application, compared to KI,
we eagerly invite additional submissions of any resources, reports, or
authoritative quotes, regarding KIO3 use for radiation protection. We will
promptly post, or link to, them all here in this new Potassium Iodate
(KIO3) section. Please forward any additional KIO3 documentation to:
webmaster@ki4u.com

There are a number of resellers of the Medical Corps KIO3 product on the
web, and elsewhere. However, for those choosing KIO3, special arrangements with the manufacturer guarantee the lowest
delivered price available here at KI4U.

Q: How do you make a Potassium Iodide (KI) solution?

A: Prepared Potassium Iodide (KI) solutions are only available by prescription, such
as Lugol's Solution. However, anyone can buy Potassium Iodide USP at a chemical supply house (and even some larger photo
supply outlets) and readily
mix up their own Potassium Iodide (KI) solutions that is every bit as effective as the tablets. Also, we were recently reminded
by a science teacher, that every town in
America likely has a ready and waiting supply of KI sitting in their high school science labs that could protect hundreds of
their students and local residents! A single 500 gram bottle of KI, now already on many of
their shelves, could provide 3,846 adult daily doses or 7,692 child (age 3-12) thyroid-blocking doses!
Community leaders need to pull together their resourceful science teachers, local pharmacists
and doctors to fully explore the resources already at hand and available for any future
nuclear emergency that might befall their locale. You might could be responsible for saving
many in your community from future thyroid cancer by simply bringing this to the attention of your
local officials, science teachers, pharmacists and doctors!

With a saturated Potassium Iodide (KI) solution you are adding a
little more Potassium Iodide (KI) to a fixed amount of water until some of the crystals or
granules will not dissolve. They will be visible at the bottom of the
solution, even after vigorous mixing. The solution is now considered
saturated when it won't take up and dissolve any more KI.

"To prepare a saturated solution of potassium iodide, fill a bottle about 60% full of crystalline or
granular potassium iodide. (A 2-fluid-ounce bottle, made of dark glass and
having a solid, non-metallic, screwcap top, is a good size for a family.
About 2 ounces of crystalline or granular potassium iodide is needed to
fill a 2-fluid-ounce bottle about 60% full.) Next, pour safe,
room-temperature water into the bottle until it is about 90% full.
Then close the bottle tightly and shake it vigorously for at least 2
minutes. Some of the solid potassium iodide should remain permanently
undissolved at the bottom of the bottle; this is proof that
the solution is saturated.

Experiments with a variety of ordinary household medicine droppers
determined that 1 drop of a saturated solution of potassium iodide contains
from 28 to 36 mg of potassium iodide."

Two ounces of granulated KI, mentioned above, is about 56.7 grams.
Also, from the above, an adult would be wanting four drops of the saturated
solution as an expedient dosage. This would amount to between 112 to 144 mg
of Potassium Iodide (KI) total. Remember, 130 mg of KI is an adult daily dose and half that (65 mg) is a child (age 3-12) daily dose.

Less than saturated Potassium Iodide (KI) solutions, when properly mixed, should give even more
accurate dosages because there is more solution overall to be measured out
per dose. For example, mixing and dissolving exactly 26 grams of Potassium Iodide USP into
a liter bottle of water, for example, produces 1000 ml of Potassium Iodide
solution with a strength of 130 mg for each 5 ml of that Potassium Iodide (KI) solution. There
are 200 of those 5 ml servings in that 1000 ml (1 liter). 5 ml can be easily and
accurately measured out with a common graduated medicine dropper. 5 ml is also equal
to one measuring teaspoon.

Following the above formula, you could make up most any size and/or strength Potassium Iodide (KI)
solution needed with accurate scales and enough bulk KI.

Also, Stanley L. Rapaport, M.D. recently shared with me (2/15/03) that he has been trying to point this out to the Surgeon
General, Homeland Security, and Armed Forces Surgeon Generals. If the government bought KI in bulk,
which then is not very expensive and would work out to about .01 cents per child dose, an easy distribution
program could be at the ready in every community in the nation! As Dr. Rapaport explains;

"Bulk purchases must be repackaged from 100# to appropriate sized packages
depending on city size and proposed stockpile locations. There are 3492
adult doses per pound or 6984 children's doses per pound.

Made up into a solution of 130mg per 5cc. (1 pound of Potassium Iodide to
17.5 liters of water) gives a solution where one teaspoonful equals one
adult dose, ½ teaspoonful equals a children's dose and so forth as per
schedule below.

Dispensed from appropriate sites including the hospital , parking lots,
drive bys, etc. in any container as is very stable. Paper cups, drink
bottles, with dosage directions.

Taken for ten days (even one dose is markedly effective) or as directed via
appropriate authorities. Solution is somewhat unpleasant and can be masked
by honey, syrup, soft drink, additional water, etc.

The solution as made up is equal to 130mg per 5cc (1 teaspoonful)
Adult dose is 1 teaspoonful
Ages 3-18 ½ teaspoonful
Ages 1 month to 3 years ¼ teaspoonful
Age 1 month or less 1/8 teaspoonful"

As Dr. Rapaport details above, this is all too easy to have in-place and ready to go, and rightly deserves serious
consideration by our government officials tasked with safeguarding public health at all levels; federal, state, and municipal.

Remember, regardless of what kind of Potassium Iodide (KI) solution might be utilized, Potassium Iodide (KI) is very bitter.
You must always then mix that dose (whether 4 drops saturated or 5 ml from the
above formula) into another glass of
juice, milk, or, at least, water to dilute it further before drinking.

As with the Potassium Iodide (KI) tablets...NEVER TAKE ANY MEDICINE OR DRUG WITHOUT FIRST CONSULTING YOUR PERSONAL PHYSICIAN! YOU COULD HAVE ALLERGIES, OTHER MEDICAL CONDITIONS, OR REACTIONS TO OTHER MEDICATIONS YOU ARE TAKING, THAT COULD BE VERY DANGEROUS OR LIFE THREATENING! ASK YOUR DOCTOR NOW, BEFORE A NUCLEAR EMERGENCY, AND THEN YOU'LL KNOW IF/WHEN IT'S NEEDED! (That's just part of being truly prepared, getting that assurance now while you still can!)

Q: Long term stability of stocked Potassium Iodide (KI)?

A:
Jerome A. Halperin, Executive Vice President-CEO of The United States
Pharmacopeial Convention, Inc., wrote to the Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission on January 30, 1998 of a recent assay of 'expired' Potassium Iodide (KI)
tablets.

The Thyro-Block Tablets (Potassium Iodide Tablets, USP, Lot T242N, Exp.
November 89), after the USP Drug Research and Testing Laboratory analyzed
samples, showed that approximately 11 years after their manufacture and
eight years after their expiry date, the tablets assayed at 99.1% of
the labeled content of potassium iodide. (This result was well within the
rubric range of 92.5 to 107.5% required by the monograph.)

(Mr. J. Halperin should know what he is talking about. In 1979, while
deputy director of the Bureau of Drugs of the Food and Drug
Administration, he had directed the effort to get Potassium Iodide Solution,
USP, manufactured and stockpiled in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania during the
Three Mile Island incident!)

Also, in conversations with one of the largest Potassium Iodide manufacturers
in the U.S., they shared that the shelf-life of their
USP grade KI, in their original factory drums, was 'indefinite', when kept
dry and at room temperature or below. Furthermore, that the shelf-life of
their USP grade Potassium Iodide (KI) dissolved into a water solution contained in a closed,
dark colored, bottle at room temperature or below, was also 'indefinite'.
It's expected that mandatory USP expiration dating will have them revising
these downward some publicly, but the point is, properly stored, Potassium Iodide (KI) is
inherently very stable. (If you have a need to know the name of this
manufacturer, write: webmaster@ki4u.com)

Both KI and KIO3 tablets can show some discoloration with age, temperature and humidity that will not affect their viability. KIO3 tablets will often turn slightly grey in color, and cellulose coated KI tablets will often have an orange surface discoloration that is only cosmetic while the underlying tablet, if you break one open, is still original white. Also, some of the cellulose coated KI tablets may stick together slightly and need to be shaken to be released.

Q: How much personally stocked Potassium Iodide (KI) is enough?

A: Unfortunately, there is no simple or
standard response that could ever be applicable to all American families
with their wide variety of concerns, locations, and situations. There are too many variables
involved, both in the nature of the possible nuclear radiation threats
and your particular family exposure to those threats.

[IMAGE OF KI Bottles here...]

From the following observations, tempered with your own knowledge and
understanding, you'll have to try to arrive at a comfortable,
prudent balance,
tailored to your situation and outlook.

For a single and 'simple' nuclear facility radiation emergency event where a
gaseous or aerosol
radioiodine is released, and the source is soon contained so as additional
radioiodine contamination is not
ongoing, and that released radioiodine is soon dispersed, then the FDA Potassium Iodide (KI)
product insert statement "You will probably be told not
to take the drug for more than 10 days." would be applicable.
That amount (10 days of tablets) would be available in any of the products mentioned above.

However, if the
radioiodine is, instead, in the form of a particulate or fallout,
not a quickly dispersing gas or aerosol, it will continue to be a
threat via inhalation (dust) or ingestion (food, milk, etc.) there
in the area it's
deposited in.

That's why, while radioiodine has a short half-life of only eight days,
some have suggested that it could continue to be dangerous for up to as
many as ten half-lives...80 days! Staying in, or not being able to get out
of, that radioiodine fallout contaminated area will require more than the
single bottle, 14
day supply, of Potassium Iodide (KI) per person.

It should be noted that you may also be directed to
evacuate the area altogether well before you exhaust your Potassium Iodide (KI) supplies,
and should immediately do so if directed, both because of persistent radioiodine and other
additional, and very dangerous, radioisotope fallout contaminations in
that area.

The absolute minimum protection then, assuming successful evacuation in less than
two weeks if needed or directed, would require stocking, at least, one Potassium Iodide (KI)
package or bottle of 14 tablets
per family member. Again, this is for the above scenario of a
one-time 'simple' nuclear facility radiation emergency event
and your families safe exit to a non-contaminated location
before exhausting your Potassium Iodide (KI) supplies, if required.

Need to give thought here, too, to extended family,
friends, neighbors, etc. Either stocking extra Potassium Iodide (KI) or KIO3 for them or advising them
of their need to do so for themselves. (Quick/Easy way to tell your on-line
friends and relatives about this FAQ here! You'll then be brought right back here!)

Preparing your family for future nuclear radiation emergencies will be based on your best
perception of the possible and probable threats and nature of those
nuclear radiation emergencies.
You will have to gauge for yourself, and your family, the likely possibility
for future nuclear radiation accidents and your families potential exposure to
radiation contamination, if/when it occurs.

You also have to make some
assumptions regarding the likely nature of those possible future nuclear radiation
emergencies from study of current events and reviewing past nuclear radiation
emergencies and the governments response. Short term,
single event, where the radioiodine is gaseous/aerosol and soon dispersed. Or, something
bigger, possibly multiple events, nuclear terrorism and/or ongoing continuing new contaminations.

Additionally, you have to assess the probable threat from nuclear war,
either directed at the U.S. or fallout contamination originating from
elsewhere in the world. Russia, China, North Korea, Pakistan, India, Middle East, etc.
where any of them are exchanging nuclear blasts with any of their neighbors
could have the prevailing west-to-east trade winds carrying the resultant radioactive fallout to our
shores, too. (See Trans-Pacific Fallout.)
You'll have to decide whether that's an impossible scenario
in your lifetime, or not. And, prepare accordingly.

In light of all of the above, some civil defense experts recommend
Americans should be stocking closer to 100 Potassium Iodide (KI) or KIO3 doses per family member.

With this in mind, some families nuclear radiation emergency preparations
might include a combination of Potassium Iodide (KI) or KIO3 products. Any of the above
packaged or bottled tablets, at least one per family member, for the
convenience of each adult member being able to keep some with them for
initial and immediate use whenever and wherever they might be when a nuclear
emergency is first declared or recognized. (Also, to give immediately to
the kids when/if you
decide to go and retrieve them from school, etc.) Then, if funds had been snug,
they might also have
stocked some of the less expensive granular Potassuim Iodide USP for mixing a
larger Potassium Iodide (KI) solution for the whole families use
for the rest of the duration of the nuclear radiation emergency. (Thus
helping to save some of
the remaining,
and more expensive, Potassium Iodide (KI) or KIO3 tablets.)

Bottom Line:
Everyone will have to decide for themselves, and their families,
the possible and probable threats, their personal and families potential
exposure to them, and their comfort level to rely solely on outside government
solutions to their future nuclear radiation emergencies.

Q: When should I take Potassium Iodide (KI)?

"Potassium iodide should be taken as soon as possibleafter public
health officials tell you. You should takeone dose every 24 hours."

Also, from the Health Physics Journal, Volume 78 No. 6, June 2000, "EFFECTS OF TIME OF
ADMINISTRATION AND DIETARY IODINE LEVELS ON POTASSIUM IODIDE (KI) BLOCKADE OF
THYROID IRRADIATION BY 131-I FROM RADIOACTIVE FALLOUT" Pat B. Zanzonico and David V. Becker
(Read abstract by searching title at
Health Physics Journal):

"KI administered up to 48 h before 131-I exposure can almost completely block thyroid uptake and therefore greatly
reduce the thyroid absorbed dose. However, KI administration 96 h or more before 131-I exposure has no significant
protective effect. In contrast, KI administration after exposure to radioiodine induces a smaller and rapidly decreasing
blockade effect. KI administration 16 h or later after 131-I exposure will have little effect on thyroid uptake and absorbed
dose and therefore little or no protective effect."

Regarding Nuclear Power Plant Radiation Emergencies:

You might also want to leave yourself the option to discover, learn, and
be vigilant for other pending nuclear power plant emergency warning signs to act
upon, even before public declarations.
For instance, if you have a nuclear plant near you, you probably
already know somebody (or at least they know somebody that knows somebody)
that works there. Talk to them, ask them how they plan to have their own
families get a quick and prompt 'heads-up' if something starts happening.
You might even ask to get on their phone list of people to call, it
certainly couldn't hurt to ask, and could be a life-saver!

[IMAGE OF NUKE PLANT Here...]

Another opportunity to learn what others are doing locally to keep
abreast of any future emergency situations developing at the plant is to
seek out the local nuke 'concerned citizens' group. Regardless of their
politics, and your affinity to them or not, they may be a great source of
contacts, procedures and suggestions for monitoring and reporting on any potential future
emergencies brewing inside the plant. (They may even have some simple
Radio Shack™ scanner suggestions, like what the news reporters and crime watch
folks use, for monitoring plant and local emergency communications yourself in an unfolding emergency.)

You may also have friends (or they may have friends) who are in law
enforcement, local emergency/disaster coordinator's office, or other government
or emergency services who would be on early call-up lists for any potential problems
at the local nuclear plant. Seek them out, too. You may even find a volunteer branch
for some of these public safety functions that you could participate in
and thus be even closer to the inner circle getting a heads-up to pending news announcements before the general
public.

If, by cultivating a network of 'early warning' contacts, you do get
indications of a pending announcement of a nuclear emergency being publicly
declared soon, then you'll be in the enviable position to immediately launch
your families
nuclear emergency response plan.
Whether you then commence Potassium Iodide treatments for your family,
before official public declarations to do so or not, at least you will
have earned for them and yourself the opportunity to choose.

You need to be aware, though, that just because there is an alert,
unusual event, site area emergency, or even general emergency at a nuclear
power plant does not automatically mean that radioactive iodine will be
released. You've got to strike the right balance of being alert, informed, and prepared to act.

For individuals not already cautioned not to use Potassium Iodide (KI) (such as those known
to be allergic to Iodine, having a medical condition that forbids it, or currently taking another medication(s) that would
adversely react with it) the downside of beginning Potassium Iodide (KI) treatment, when later
revealed not to have been needed, is statistically minimal. (However, you should always consult your personal physician, well ahead of any potential need for it, to assure that you and your children are unlikely to encounter any problems using it. That's just a part of being truly prepared!)
You'll have to balance your final decisions against the potentially deadly
downside of not having started early enough to have saturated your
thyroid, and your childrens thyroids, with stable iodine to then avoid later
uptake of a possible plume of radioactive iodine being carried in on the winds.

There are numerous incidents of nuclear power plant emergency
releases of radioiodine that did not also have the public being
immediately and effectively notified. You need to do what you can to
network yourself into the nuclear plant emergency information loop,
closer to the action, to be better assured of a prompt and informed notification.

This author was recently challenged by an employee of the NRC (speaking unofficially)
suggesting it was 'somewhat irresponsible' to be recommending
above here that people should be encouraged to try to
attain information outside and beyond solely relying on the public
warning systems and public notification procedures already in place.
(Especially, didn't like the suggestion of utilizing scanners, where
people might could then be listening in on "...transmissions between
workers at power plants and then drawn their own conclusions from these
discussions.") Specifically because, this person stated: "...at each nuclear power plant, there
is an emergency
notification siren system to alert citizens to a general emergency
condition at a nuclear power plant. local officials will be notified
and will notify citizens."This author responded:

"If I
could be convinced, that at the onset of a nuclear power
plant emergency, that no employee there with family downwind,
would ever think to call home, but would instead rely on the
sequence of public notifications above to unfold and alert
their loved ones to evacuate, then I could delete that whole
section."

Got a great insider tip or suggestion for early warning of nuclear
plant impending radiation emergency declaration? Write:
webmaster@ki4u.com and we'll credit
you with it here, or not. Your choice, but please do share it!

Regarding Nuclear Explosions Radiation Emergencies:

There is a wealth of early warning nuclear explosion information here on
this site at Nuclear War Survival Skills
Ch. 2: Warnings and
Communications. It covers both strategic and tactical warnings and the
effectiveness of in-place public warning systems. Beyond the obvious, it
also details recognizable nuclear bomb effects, like bright lights, noise,
and wide-spread electrical and communication failures that can alert you to
the commencement of hostilities, even well away from your location, too.

[IMAGE OF Atomic Blast here...]

Additionally, you should even try to cultivate contacts within the military similar to
those you would establish above for early warnings of nuclear power plant
emergencies. Once you start inquiring you might be pleasantly surprised to
discover who knows who that knows somebody that might help you recognize a
'heads-up' coming or an heightened level of military alert.

And, of course, any close following of world-wide political and current events can
reveal increased nuclear saber-rattling with a corresponding increased
potential to break out into a nuclear exchange. You need to go beyond just
the national media here in America and also explore the international
overseas generated news sources. The BBC and some of the translated
World News on satellite can give you unfiltered insights into what
the governments in the Middle East, or China, Russia, Iraq, and
North Korea, etc.
are telling their people is important to focus on. It's often insightful
'news' and glimpses of emerging trends that their peoples are being
prepped for. It's also routinely overlooked and 'missed' by the general
U.S. press.

Also, shortwave listening to
worldband broadcasting and discerning
use of the internet can connect you with important stories hours, days, and
sometimes, even months, before the mainstream press 'discovers' and reports
on it. And, often, even when they eventually do report on it, it is a brief
overview that doesn't give it the treatment deserved nor adequately reveals
the implications of that event or news item.
This is especially true in the cases where foreign countries are increasingly
belligerent to each
other and no US concern or future involvement is readily obvious.

We need to remember, too, that even
nuclear war engaged in far from America, with the prevailing west-to-east trade
winds, can carry the resultant radioactive fallout to our shores, too.
(See Trans-Pacific Fallout.)

Bottom Line: While there may be much to be done in a developing
nuclear emergency, evacuation or sheltering, you will also have the choice
to commence your families Potassium Iodide protective treatments, early, when
they can do the most good, if you've been vigilant and observant of the
potential around you for future nuclear threats, here and abroad.

Got a great insider tip or suggestion for early warning of an impending
nuclear attack, nuclear terrorism, or fallout radiation emergency from one,
regardless of where it may have occurred? Write:
webmaster@ki4u.com and we'll credit
you with it here, or not. Your choice, but please do share it!

Get E-mailed Notice Of When New Content Is Added To The FAQ!Type "Subscribe" In 'Subject' Of This e-mail!

Q: For how long should I take Potassium Iodide (KI)?

"You will probably be told not to take the drug for more than 10 days."

The reason for this cut-off date is the presumption that, in a
nuclear power plant radiation accident, if the radioiodine was gaseous
or an aerosol it would also probably be fully dispersed by this time.
If it was not yet dispersed and/or there was ongoing continuing radioiodine
releases, then the affected population would have likely been evacuated to a
safer location well within that 10 day time frame.

However, it must be noted, that radioiodine can be present as a much
more persistent fallout, rather than a quickly dispersing gas or aerosol.
There are also many other very dangerous radioactive isotopes that
can be released during a nuclear emergency for which immediate or
subsequent evacuation could be declared, and should be immediately heeded,
regardless of radioiodine presence.

So, for how long do you continue to daily take the Potassium Iodide (KI) or KIO3?

Many believe that
you should not stop until you have been, for at least a day or more, out
of the possibility to ingest or inhale any more radioiodine. Either because
its finally gone or you have gone out of the contaminated area to safer
ground.

Why take any more Potassium Iodide (KI) or KIO3 at all, after getting safe? Because, even after
you leave the contaminated area you could still be bringing
some radioiodine with you...in your blood. While excess iodine, either
stable or radioactive, will be quickly eliminated via the kidneys, you need
to assure that your thyroid doesn't fall below fully saturated, until then.
For this reason, you should strive to maintain a high blood level of stable
iodine, with daily intakes of Potassium Iodide (KI) or KIO3, for at least another day or two.

Related to this topic, some experts reviewing the Chernobyl accident now
feel that even much less than 130 mg Potassium Iodide (KI) daily dose works well to initially fill up
and saturate the thyroid sufficiently. (FDA, supposedly, now
also reviewing modifying its recommendations down to a much
lower dose, too, though not for fewer expected total days, currently 10.)

Whether this is true, or not, a person might could
go onto a reduced maintenance dosage, at some later stage, for a much longer
extended period with a further reduced potential for any negative side
effects, too. It should be repeated here, though, many thousands of people,
for thyroid ailments, take more than twice the 130 mg Potassium Iodide (KI) dose daily and
have for years. There is quite a bit of safe medical history for that
particular application.
(BTW, those thousands of thyroid patients, with their personal
stocks of KI, might could become pretty popular folks in their local
neighborhoods, if word gets out during a nuclear emergency!)

Bottom Line: Regardless of our enthusiasm for Potassium Iodide (KI) and KIO3,
and their extremely effective and safe track record, we must also say
(according to
legal eagles): The materials and information on this web
site are intended for educational and informational purposes only.
In no
way should it be considered as offering medical advice. NEVER TAKE
ANY MEDICINE OR DRUG WITHOUT FIRST CONSULTING YOUR PERSONAL PHYSICIAN!
YOU COULD HAVE ALLERGIES, OTHER MEDICAL CONDITIONS, OR REACTIONS TO OTHER
MEDICATIONS YOU ARE TAKING, THAT COULD BE VERY DANGEROUS OR LIFE
THREATENING! ASK YOUR DOCTOR NOW, BEFORE A NUCLEAR EMERGENCY, AND THEN
YOU'LL KNOW IF/WHEN IT'S NEEDED! (That's just part of being really prepared!)

Q: Candid Product Evaluations by FAQ Author

With offering here the Potassium Iodide (KI) & KIO3
formulations currently available on the market, and showing you the 'do it yourself' alternatives, too, we are often asked for our 'short answer' or personal
opinion of what's really the best and how much should be acquired.

Bottom Line:
Be assured that they all work, as all the formulations listed below here have the required 100mg Iodine for an adult dose and with similiar bioavailability, and while the KI4U FAQ
is lengthy in its exploration of the various potential scenarios requiring
different strategies, and
quantities of pre-stocked supplies, here's our most concise recommendations:

Acquiring some bulk Potassium Iodide (KI), to create a Potassium Iodide (KI) solution, is the cheapest per dose, but not everyone
wants to fool with the mixing up of a Potassium Iodide (KI) solution. (Especially now with the
introduction of the relatively cheap KI4U™ tablets.) However, even for those who
will mix and use a Potassium Iodide (KI) solution, and we show how on the FAQ,
we still strongly recommend they also acquire some tablets, too, both for their
inherent portability and ease of immediate dosing upon the first alert of a
nuclear emergency.

Among the KI tablet offerings, the KI4U™ KI is clearly
the 'best buy', price-wise. More importantly, though, because the KI4U™ formulation requires the taking of two tablets for a complete adult daily dose,
we can then more easily dose our children, too, as they will always require less
than a full adult dose. (Ease of quickly and accurately dosing children is essential as it's always our children who are at the greatest risk from radioiodine and its effects.)

For instance, children age 3-12, who require exactly half of an adult dose (see chart below), can
simply take one single/whole tablet of KI4U™ KI for their required full daily dose.
In comparison, the less popular Potassium Iodide (KI) tablets
offered by others, where their single tablets are already full adult doses,
dosing children with them would thus require effectively splitting and, for younger children, even quartering
or 'eighthing'
those already tiny tablets. And, they are also quite bitter, especially with powder fragments.
(KI4U™ KI formulation would also require splitting of their coated tablets for children
under the age of three down to one month olds.)

The 3X's more expensive one-tablet-per-adult dose formulations make it much
harder to quickly and properly dose the majority of children,
those who are between the ages of 3 - 12. Both, because of the
difficulty of quickly and accurately attaining the proper
dose amount and then the need to successfully dilute or mask the
inherent bitterness of Potassium Iodide (KI) before it will ever be swallowed by a child.

This is especially important because that initial first dose is
so time sensitive to get it into the bloodstream quickly upon
that first alert. Consider, too, that most everyone concerned
would also likely be under much stress in a very tense and urgent
developing nuclear emergency. Perhaps, too, not even at home, but in your car, or elsewhere, at the time you first hear 'the news'.

Finally, to clear up any confusion between KI and KIO3, understand that...

Both deliver the required 100mg of elemental iodine for an adult thyroid-blocking dose. (The tablet mg size of the KIO3 is always larger simply because it takes more KIO3 to deliver the same amount of iodine as is in less KI.)

The 1999 World Health Organization 'Guidelines for Iodine Prophylaxis following Nuclear Accidents' shows both Potassium Iodide (KI) and Potassium Iodate (KIO3) as equals in regards to their bio-availability and efficient uptake of stable iodine for thyroid-blocking. That report also states: "There is no decisive difference in shelf life between KIO3 and KI."

However, the FDA does not recognize KIO3 in its recently revised dosing guidelines and recommendations released in November 2001: 'Potassium Iodide as a Thyroid Blocking Agent in Radiation Emergencies', but only Potassium Iodide (KI).

KIO3 is non-bitter and would require less masking and/or diluting to administer partial tablets to children under the age of three.

Of course, either will work, and the choice is simply selecting whichever formulation you personally find most convenient, economical and currently available.

BTW, our best-seller is KI4U™ KI.

Dosing chart from the recently updated 1999 World Health Organization:Guidelines for Iodine Prophylaxis following Nuclear Accidents

Age Group

Mass of iodine
mg

Mass of KI
mg

Mass of KIO3
mg

Fraction of
100 mg Iodine

Adults and adolescents
(over 12 years)

100

130

170

1

Children
(3-12 years)

50

65

85

1/2

Infants
(1 month to 3 years)

25

32

42

1/4

Neonates
(birth to 1 month)

12.5

16

21

1/8

Regarding 'how much to stock':
We recommend a minimum of at least 100 daily doses for every person you'll be
ultimately responsible for protecting. That's one bottle of 100 doses per adult and one bottle for every two children under
the age of 12. (Only you can decide if that'll also need to
include putting some extra aside for extended family, friends, and neighbors, too.
It's unlikely you'll have too much --- when it's needed! Nor will you likely be able
to easily get any more!) -Shane Connor
If any of the above still leaves questions (or you were looking for KI to treat toenail fungus instead), write me at
webmaster@ki4u.com or call (830) 672-8734.

Nukefix (Discussed in the Sept/Oct 2000 issue of The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Encyclopædia Britannica and Newsweek.com describe it as a "superb tool." With it you can perform your own analysis of the nuclear weapons problem.)

For manufacturers & suppliers of preparedness equipment: If you share our commitment and
mission to affordably prepare the American people with quality solutions, contact Shane Connor to have
your products linked here for our visitors.